Dreadnought thought

[ErikModi]

So, just recently picked up Sins of a Solar Empire:  Rebellion, and tried out the Ascendancy mod.

Excellent work.  Been a HUGE fan of Thrawn's Revenge for Empire At War, and Ascendancy is just as good.

Anyway, only been playing briefly, but I've had a thought about the Dreadnought.

Strike Cruisers have the "Denting Strike" research, which makes them much more valuable as a component of a fleet (and boy oh boy, do  you need to build big fleets in this!)  In the Thrawn Trilogy, much was made of Dreadnoughts using their ion cannons.  In Dark Force Rising, when Bel Iblis is helping Han and Lando escape New Cov, the Dreadnoughts bombard an ISD with ion cannon fire, keeping it off-balance long enough for them to escape.  Later, Garm uses them to try and capture some of Thrawn's cloaked asteroids, but to no avail.

Anyway, what about a research like "Denting Strike," except debuffing attack instead of damage, representing Dreadnought ion cannon fire knocking offensive systems offline temporarily?

[Revanchist]

Interesting idea, but here's the thing with that. Standard Dreadnoughts only had turbolaser weaponry, however Katana Dreads are mentioned with Ion cannons. This is represented in the mod as a separate unit, one that (currently) can only be obtained in Flagship Victory via Thrawn's Dark Force Rising ability. So standard Dreads wouldn't have access to it. However, a case could definitely be made to give Katana Dreads the ability that Gladiators and Carracks have (can't remember the name, but it does basically what you are suggesting, reducing the enemy damage output).

[Corey]

Yeah, as Revanchist mentioned the Dreadnaught ions are Katana-exclusive, however it's worth noting that a similar ability to what you're suggesting exists on the Carrack, since so much of their weaponry is Ion-based.

[Papa Palps]

I love both the Carrack's and Strike Cruiser's special abilities, they're so tactical.  It's amazing when you soften up a target with 10 Strike Cruisers and then lay into it with your whole fleet, or reduce the damage of a devastating titan with a few Carracks.